In the last few weeks, Ford arm-wrestled Hulk Hogan, appeared to be intoxicated while strolling down to the Taste of the Danforth and admitted he has smoked “a lot” of marijuana.

Other than the pot-smoking confession, Ford spent most of the summer still refusing to answer questions related to drug allegations that first surfaced in late May after gawker.com said it had viewed a video of the mayor smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine.

Ford has denied the cocaine allegations and repeatedly refused to comment on the video. The alleged video has not surfaced publicly.

While the crack scandal dogged Ford early on in the summer, it did have one likely unintended result — the mayor started showing up at City Hall much more. Ford has likely held more press conferences on city issues in the weeks after the controversy than he did during his first 2 1/2 years in office.

The topics of the mayor’s summer press conferences varied but all seemed designed to show Ford in charge and politically engaged. He hammered Queen’s Park for cutting provincial funding to the city, painted a curb lane red to launch a pilot project on colour-coded parking curbs and cleaned graffiti off a wall in Etobicoke. In a speech to the Cambridge Club last week, Ford insisted his administration was on the right track.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Ford told the lunchtime crowd. “You’re going to have to make a decision, folks, on Oct. 27, 2014 (the next municipal election): Do you trust me with your hard-earned tax dollars? If you do, I’m willing to serve for another four years to make the city an even better place.”

The mayor did have some political wins to crow about this summer including the council vote in July in favour of the Scarborough subway. He also hit the provincial byelection campaign trail to help Doug Holyday win for the Progressive Conservatives in Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

The mayor’s Ford Fest Scarborough in early July also helped show he still had grassroots support despite his gaffes and missteps.

The civic leader had a significant loss, too. He pushed hard for a municipal byelection in Etobicoke to replace Doug Holyday in Etobicoke Centre (Ward 3), but ended up losing the issue at council. A majority of councillors voted against the mayor and in favour of appointing a replacement.

Asked if he thought the mayor had a successful summer politically, Councillor John Parker said he doesn’t really pay attention to what Ford does now.

“He’s made himself irrelevant,” said Parker - a former Progressive Conservative MPP. “The work of City Hall is carrying on with or without the participation of the mayor and I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to what he’s been up to and what the stories have been about him.”

“This has not been the most engaged mayor that we’ve ever seen nor the most effective mayor we have ever seen. Increasingly, what I’m observing is a City Hall and a city council that is carrying on its work irrespective of what the mayor may be saying or wishing or doing.”

In the last few weeks, Ford arm-wrestled Hulk Hogan, appeared to be intoxicated while strolling down to the Taste of the Danforth and admitted he has smoked “a lot” of marijuana.

Other than the pot-smoking confession, Ford spent most of the summer still refusing to answer questions related to drug allegations that first surfaced in late May after gawker.com said it had viewed a video of the mayor smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine.

Ford has denied the cocaine allegations and repeatedly refused to comment on the video. The alleged video has not surfaced publicly.